Use The Stimulus Bill To Find A Job

On February 17, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, an economic stimulus package that aims to "save or create" 3.5 million jobs through 2010 — with a huge majority in the private sector. The massive $787 billion plan, hardly a bipartisan achievement, is markedly different from President Bush's Economic Stimulus Act of last February, which in form if not design amounted to sending out Federal checks to U.S. taxpayers in the hopes that they were spent wisely. A year later, it's fair to say they weren't.

In this piece, we'll offer tips on using the stimulus bill to find a job — whether that job is among the millions the bill seeks to create or one found thanks to the services it provides.

Visit a one-stop career center

The plan provides $3.5 billion for job training and another $400 million for employment services. You will likely best see this money at work at a One-Stop Career Center.

Check out CareerOneStop.org, a portal to the 1,782 comprehensive career centers and 1,166 affiliate career centers in the U.S. These offer a wide variety of free, in-person services including education and job training, research into finding a new career or switching industries, resume writing, interview skills, and assistance searching their job banks.

Apply for government jobs

You can also use the stimulus bill to find a government job — they're always hiring, at both the state and federal levels. Since some of the plan's funding will go to government agencies — from the State Department to the National Wildlife Refuges and everything in between — it makes sense to use their job search sites to find those job openings.

At least two sites will prove helpful in this regard:

The first is JobSearch.USAjobs.gov. Here, you can search among a broad range of areas of interest or expertise and you can apply online for most of them.

The other is Doleta.gov/JobSeekers/. This is the website for the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration. It provides a wealth of information including job searches, links to assess your skills and areas to explore your career options.

Identify firms receiving funds

Officials estimate that about 90% of the jobs created by the Stimulus Plan will be in the private sector. Federal and state governments will establish certain projects, and then go about contracting private companies to carry them out. Contracts are being awarded based in part on the ability of the bidding company to start spending the money — meaning hiring people and subcontracting other companies, who in turn will hire more people — within six months of getting it.

By using the Stimulus Bill to find a job, you're benefiting from the current economic climate...